Digital pill comes: Doctor is watching if you swallow them

new york - A breakthrough for digital, smart pills. For the first time, the American Medicine Watchdog FDA approved a smart pill. The pill can tell doctors if and when patients take their medicine.

The pill could put an end to the problem that millions of patients left their medicine left. Already in the United States, the neglect of medication would yield an annual cost of about $ 100 billion, the New York Times states. Apart from the fact that many pills are thrown away, people are also sick if they do not swallow the prescribed pills.

In the digital pills, besides the 'regular' medication, a type of chip is made of copper, magnesium and silicone. As soon as the pill mixes with gastric juices, a sensor on the patient's belly picks up a signal. This signal is again shared with an app so that doctors and relatives can follow if the patient is getting married to the drug. People who use the pill should allow permission for privacy issues here. Especially older people who forget about their medication would benefit from the gadget.

Critics put many questions to the principle. For example, psychiatric patients should be able to recover the street on condition of using the digital pill. Experts wonder if this is a safe way of checking. The producer denies, however, that the drug is intended for people with mental disorders.

The digital pill will first be tested in patients with stress disorder and hepatitis C.